Short Stuff: Do Fish Get Thirsty?

In this episode of Stuff You Should Know's short format, Josh and Chuck tackle a deceptively simple question: do fish ever get thirsty? They explore the fascinating biological process called osmoregulation, which is how fish maintain the right balance of salt and water in their bodies, and discover that freshwater and saltwater fish have completely opposite strategies to stay hydrated. Along the way, they explain why freshwater fish constantly urinate while saltwater fish actually drink seawater, and they even touch on how salmon cleverly use brackish water staging areas to transition between freshwater and saltwater environments—a process that's increasingly being disrupted by climate change.